An accurate report recommends salary increases for Helsinki’s own doctors and thoughtful purchases from the private sector.
Doctor for hire pays taxpayers 52–64 percent more than a doctor hired directly by Helsinki.
This is how it is calculated in a recent report on the production methods of medical services. The exact calculations have been made, because even though Helsinki still does much more itself than buys from the private sector, the shortage of doctors is getting worse. The report was presented to politicians on Tuesday, but no decisions were made based on it yet.
The prices of medical rental have increased. The affordability of the deal from the point of view of the city varies depending on whether a doctor is needed at the city hospital, health center or where.
The city uses home care for the elderly as an example, where doing it yourself is more than 70,000 euros cheaper per year than renting.
The report states that the number of purchases has increased in almost all medical services offered by the city. Of course, not all ways to buy will be as expensive as renting doctors.
Based on the report, it is recommended that the city should both increase the work well-being of doctors and raise salaries, because it would be cheaper than buying in a panic.
Last in Helsinki, 18 percent of doctor’s positions were unfilled. So 168 doctors were missing. The shortage is not uniform: for example, dentists are easier to find than psychiatrists.
Helsinki calculates that it will need more professionals in the next few years due to the aging of the population, and many professionals will retire. Last year, a third of the city’s job advertisements for doctors received no applicants.
Most of the doctors in the city’s services are on their own payrolls. In 2021, when the costs of medical services for the city were 111.9 million, 20.3 million of this was spent on purchases.
Personnel hiring plays a significant role in city hospitals and substance abuse and psychiatric services. Service vouchers are used in several services and they and the direct purchase service are important, especially in oral health care.
The city has dozens of contracts for medical services with different companies. A large part of purchases is made from waste: Mehiläinen is the largest for both rental doctors and service vouchers.
Service providers partly have the same problems as the city. Sometimes they also can’t hire the number they want, especially specialized professionals.
In the investigation it is suggested that the city should intervene in the well-being and salaries of its own doctors.
A large part of the city’s doctors found the work atmosphere good and their work meaningful.
On the other hand, one in two felt that their workload had increased beyond tolerance last year. The doctor cannot concentrate on patient work and has to worry about everything else. This is related to information systems and division of labor between different professional groups.
The city’s own doctors were also more dissatisfied with their salaries than the doctors of the purchasing services. The report suggests that especially long experience and commitment should be rewarded. Doctors got raises in this year’s salary program.
Shopping services are considered necessary, but they should not be done hastily, but planned and for long periods of time.
In the investigation the ongoing experiment in which two health centers have been completely outsourced, but the contract of one of them was terminated in the middle of the season, was not discussed. An interim report on this will be completed in the fall.
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